Two IPO experts share advice for private equity leaders ahead of going public. They also discuss popular types of IPOs, the trend of direct listings, and why super shares are bad for companies in the long term.

There were 1,900 deals in the space last year, according to Connecticut-based publisher Irving Levin Associates in its 2019 report “Seniors Housing & Health Care M&A in the 21st Century.” For buyers, the cool kids on the block were long-term care facilities and physician medical groups, which led the charge for deal-making and consolidation.

Private equity is on the prowl for good deals in the healthcare space right now. There’s a lot of competition and money searching for an investment opportunity. Sometimes, those opportunities involve public companies looking to go private.

Despite headwinds that threatened to throw off healthcare deals, mergers and acquisitions were active in 2019. Even big deals weren’t off the table, despite the uncertainty created by a federal judge’s 2018 decision that the Affordable Care Act was unconstitutional. In fact, some of the biggest deals of early 2019 were in the healthcare space.

Amazon.com has set its sight on industries outside the disrupted retail space. Why not healthcare? That alarming angle was stoked in 2018 when Amazon teamed up with J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. and Berkshire Hathaway to cut health care costs.

Healthcare is one of the most heavily regulated industries, which amplifies every little wart and blemish. Laws such as HIPPA and HITECH in the U.S. require companies to report every ransomware incident as a data breach, even if no data was confirmed stolen .

The next major cyber threat isn’t in the healthcare industry. It isn’t banking, either, thanks in part to both of those industries’ strict regulations. Manufacturing is undergoing a transformation that will increase risk in that industry, so is that the next major area at risk of cyber threats?

In the past few years activists have broadened their horizons, targeting even small and mid cap companies. Institutional investors are supporting activists more and more, and if you didn’t already have enough keeping you up at night, there are two new trends in this ever evolving landscape that put your company at risk.